News: LEDs
5 August 2021
SETi’s Violeds technology helps to suppress spread of Delta variant of COVID-19
Sensor Electronics Technology Inc (SETi) of Columbia, SC, USA (which makes UV-A, UV-B and UV-C deep-ultraviolet LEDs, emitting at wavelengths of 200-430nm) and UV LED product maker Seoul Viosys Co Ltd (SVC) – both subsidiaries of South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor – have announced surface disinfection test results showing that Violeds UV LED technology fully disinfected the COVID-19 delta variant by 99.3% in 1 second and 99.9999% in 5 seconds. In addition, in SETi and Seoul Viosys’ own experiment, Violeds not only removed fine dust but also disinfected 90% of viruses in the air in 5-7 minutes and 99.9% within 30 minutes in 60m3 and 120m3 spaces, proving again that Violeds technology can support prevention of airborne transmission.
The bio research team of SETi and Seoul Viosys built its own 120m3 airborne disinfection laboratory to conduct experiments suiting the size of general multi-use facilities, and implemented an optimal solution that provides high disinfection power with minimal air circulation. Considering that the contagious viruses are circulating indoors for a long time, the team collected the airborne viruses in the 120m3 space and irradiated them with Violeds light. As a result, viruses were disinfected by 90% in 7 minutes and 99.9% in 30 minutes. Regarding the experiment, SETi and Seoul Viosys sought advice from professor Kun Sub Chung of Yonsei University and the Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center (SSLEEC) at University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the USA.
The Violeds air disinfection solution introduced by SETi and Seoul Viosys is equipped with a Violeds module in the air purifier used in the semiconductor cleanroom, where absolute clean air is essential, to remove the dust and virus simultaneously. The principle is that when the HEPA filter filters the dust, Violeds disinfects the viruses collected with the dust.
The air disinfection experiment was carried out as follows. After the viruses were sprayed into the air in the form of small particles, the research team turned on the air purifier unit with the Violeds disinfection module and confirmed that the virus was inactivated by more than 90%. The virus used in the experiment was PhiX-174, which has been found to be very similar to COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in many respects and is being used for airborne virus testing at domestic and foreign accredited testing institutes such as Korea Testing Laboratory (KTL).
SETi and Seoul Viosys develop portable surface disinfection unit
SETi and Seoul Viosys’ Violeds technology kills 99% of coronavirus within a second
